Author: Cliff McNish
By: Alicia Barton
Getting To Know The
Characters
 Jack : Jack just moved to a really old house after his dad died. He
has a special “ sense “, and can tell when there is a ghost around,
and how they died. He’s only 12 years old, but he isn’t afraid of
anything.
 Sarah : Jack’s mother. She is always worrying about him because
of his really bad asthma, and doesn’t want to lose another very
important person in her life. She is constantly working hard to
make sure Jack is in a safe environment. She is a really good
mom.
 Ghost Mother: The Ghost Mother wants to have another child,
because hers died many years ago. She makes Jack love her, but
he really doesn’t. He’s afraid of her. All the Ghost Children are
afraid too. She feeds off of them, by eating their souls.
Getting To Know The
Characters
 Ann : She is the wisest, and most caring. She let’s the Ghost
Mother eat her soul instead of anyone else’s because she doesn’t
want them to get hurt. She is also the first child to go to the
Nightmare Passage.
 Oliver : He’s the most daring of the group. Oliver is the only one
the Ghost Mother hasn’t fed on yet, and doesn’t plan to be for a
while. He isn’t so good at keeping the younger children quiet
whenever the Ghost Mother’s around, because he’s too
impatient.
 Charlie : He is afraid of the dark, but doesn’t want Oliver to
know, because he wants to try and impress him by acting tough.
Charlie and Oliver are really close, and Charlie doesn’t like that
Oliver risks his “ life “ all the time for them.
 Gwyneth : She is the most afraid, and the one the Ghost Mother
likes to feed on the most, because she screams. She and Ann are
super close, Ann is like her real sister. She is constantly having to
hide from the Ghost Mother because she is way too loud.
The Setting
 Breath : A Ghost Story takes place in a really
old house. Many people have died in the
house, and Jack can sense it. Only 5 of the
ghost remained though, all the others went on
to the Other Side. Jack really likes the house,
though. He really likes old things.
 They live in a really cold place, where it’s
pretty cold all the time, but still in the United
States. Jack likes the cold, so his mom let
them move there.
Some Problems In The Book
 Jack has really bad asthma, so if he gets too excited or talks to
loud or too much he can have a really bad asthma attack. So he
and his mom have to be really careful all the time.
 Another problem is that the Ghost Mother tries to take Jack away
from his mother, and she tries anything so it can happen. Jack
doesn’t really realize this until its almost too late.
 The next problem is that the Ghost Mother is going to make all
the Ghost Children go to the Nightmare Passage, which is a very
bad place for ghosts. So Jack feels like he has to save them
somehow, but the Ghost Mother is just so controlling, he can’t
figure out how.
The Summary
 Jack and Sarah move to a really old house with a
bunch of ghosts in it. Jack can sense their presence,
and starts looking for them. First he meets the Ghost
Mother, and at the time she seems really sweet and
kind. Then he actually gets to know her, and sees that
she is a crazy lunatic. She lost her own daughter, and
now she wants a son ( Jack ). So she goes inside his
mom’s body and pretends to be her, and Jack soon
realizes that it isn’t really his mother. The Ghost
Children try to warn him to get out of the house as
soon as possible, but he doesn’t listen. He tries to help
the Ghost Children get away from the Ghost Mother,
and from the Nightmare Passage.
Recommendation
 I would recommend this book to anyone
who likes a good ghost story. Breathe: A
Ghost Story just makes you want to keep
reading. The Author did a very good job
writing the book, I would recommend this
book to anyone. I give it 5 stars! It made me
want to keep reading and reading, and I
could really picture what was happening in
the story in my mind. I really enjoyed this
book.